Anya stepped through the front door as Spike moved
aside.
"Is it safe?" she asked quietly.
He nodded, "She won't be over until tonight."
He went to a chair and sat down as she took the sofa.
"I'm beginning to wonder if you know what you're
doing," he told her. "It's been two weeks."
"And he's backed off, hasn't he?" she asked. "Buffy
and Xander have been taking up so much of his time, he
hasn't had much choice but to leave Willow alone."
"Aside from a couple of phone calls, which she refused
to take," he admitted. "But this isn't just about
getting him to back off. I don't want that bastard
worming his way back into their little group. I want
him gone."
"He isn't back in, not really," Anya assured him. "And
when we're finished with him, gone is exactly what
he'll be. Willow told Buffy about the phone calls, so
she and Xander have been trying harder than ever to
keep Oz preoccupied. He's really beginning to believe
he's in tight with them. He's letting his guard down,
Spike."
His eyes flew to her, and he slid toward the edge of
the chair, "He told you something."
"You told me when you first asked for my help that
there was a reason he's been so quiet about where he
went and what he did after he left town," she reminded
him. "You were right. He was at Buffy's, watching
movies with us, a couple of nights ago. He and I were
in the kitchen making popcorn, and I made a little
comment about how hard it must be not to have had
sexual intercourse since he'd done it with Willow."
Spike dropped his head to his hand and groaned, "You
didn't."
"What? I was just making conversation," she said, the
wicked twinkle in her eye betraying the innocent tone
of her voice. "And then he mumbled something like it
hadn't been that long."
Spike raised his head slowly, staring over at her.
She flashed him a sly smile, "So, I made a few
compassionate noises about how awful it would be if
Willow found out and how difficult it must be to keep
it all to himself. Gods, these humans are so easy to
manipulate. Sometimes, it's hardly any challenge at
all."
Spike couldn't help grinning, "You're one of those
humans now, in case you've forgotten."
"Which makes it all the more fun, strangely enough,"
she nodded gleefully. "Anyway, he finally broke down
and told me."
The vampire waited expectantly for her to continue and
exploded impatiently when she remained silent, "Told
you WHAT?!?"
"Oh, right," she responded. "Well, he kept his pants
zipped, right up until a few days before he came back.
He said he'd been traveling south, just kind of
stopping along the way whenever he felt like it. Then,
one evening, he pulled off in a small town east of San
Diego and stopped at a restaurant to get something to
eat. The young woman who waited on him was just
finishing her shift, and according to Oz, she pretty
much invited herself to eat with him. Her name was
Ivy--he never even bothered to ask for her last name."
"Would you like to tell me what was on the menu, or do
you just want to get to the point?" he grumbled.
"I'm getting there! Ivy leant a sympathetic ear while
he poured out his troubles--minus the howling at the
moon bit, I'm guessing--and she comforted him with all
sorts of nauseatingly disgusting words and invited him
back to her apartment for the night."
"Which he accepted," Spike guessed.
"He accepted a lot more than that," she nodded. "He
ended up in bed with her."
"Bloody hell," the vampire grinned. "This is almost
too good."
"He woke up the next morning feeling all empty inside,
and that's when he decided to head back here," she
continued.
"It took shagging a waitress to figure out he wanted
to be with Willow? She'll love that."
"You can't be the one to tell her," Anya warned him.
"And neither can I."
"Well, he sure as hell won't. So how--"
"_She_ will. I found her," she told him.
"You found...How?"
"Called information," she shrugged. "There's only one
Ivy in that entire little town.
End.